Northern Belle
by Avian Sea
Summary: The Enterprise is taking on new crew members after a particularly nasty run-in with a Klingon warbird, and the good doctor has the "privilege" to inspect the new members coming aboard. He grudgingly does so until a woman comes through the line...
1. Chapter 1

Soft slurping echoed through the room, the sweet tea cooling the frustrated medical officer. Some days, his southern gentleman way of life couldn't stand up to the ridiculous goings on aboard the starship Enterprise. After half of security and a good portion of engineering died in a Klingon attack, all the "grieving" captain could think about was if he would be assigned attractive female crewmates. The doctor sipped his tea again, closing his eyes, using his furrowed eyebrows to keep them that way. It shouldn't bother him so much, but just how the captain treated those women, like he thought he was teaching them about love, it made him sick. Women were supposed to be treated with respect, protected, honored. The doctor sighed, correcting himself. The GOOD ones should be. That definitely didn't include his ex-wife. Ugh, hopefully she'll never be included again. 'Great way to dredge up old memories, Leonard. Just what I wanted to think of.' Thankfully, someone charged into the infirmary, despite the late time, singing the news.

"Doctor McCoy!" The cheerful landing party member skipped into the room, his red shirt blazing under the light. "It's time to go pick up the new crewmates. And that means…" McCoy rolled his eyes.

"Examinations…" He stood up with extra force, slurping down his sweet tea, pretending it was a mint julep, then swaggered out to the transporter room. "All 134 of them. Great."

"So, Bones?" the whirring of his tricorder gave him a few moments to ignore the captain. "What do you think of the new crew members?" He looked at them running through their lines, waiting for their exam, picking up their clothes, room numbers, waiting to be beamed up. So far, the doctor had been happy to notice that the majority of the new crewmates were men, and most of those who were women, were a different species that the captain would hopefully not find attractive. Most human men would actually be quite repulsed by these women. They came from a lot of gaseous planets; their forms weren't as pleasantly fixed as Earthlings were accustomed. "Any of them… pretty?" Rolling his eyes, he sent off the next healthy ensign.

"Dammit, Jim. These are your new crewmates, not eye candy." He readied his tricorder for the next crewmate, readying his mouth to give Captain Jim one of his famous moral speeches. "Women aren't something to stare at and push your base desires on. They're someone to help you, comfort you, understand and give advice. You're supposed to do the same too. You respect and love the woman for what's inside." McCoy looked impatiently at the next approaching crewmember, wishing they'd hurry up and get here so he could hurry up and get to his Romulan ale. She was walking quickly away from a group of three girls, the ones she'd presumably came with, skipping a bit as she tried to hurry herself. Her short curls bobbed as she jogged over. A smile lit up her face, tightening McCoy's throat. His heart raced as he tried to regain control of his breathing and voice. Her eyes darted around the area, taking in everything, every detail, and all of the captain and Bones. "Beautiful." Big brown eyes came to rest on him, her smile pushing freckles up her cheeks.

"What was that, Bones?" Kirk knew he had him, not only from Bones' reaction, but from the look of the girl; so cute and innocent, athletic, the center of attention. Exactly what Kirk wanted. "I couldn't hear you over the sound of my being right."

"Jim…" He didn't really want to hear it now, especially with the woman who started this standing right in front of him. "I'll talk to you later. I want to finish this up so I can go sleep." Jim shook his head, leaving this be for the time being, but after words, he was going to take this for all it's worth.

"Oh," The woman's worried face broke through the two's catty conversation. "I'm sorry you have to be up at such an ungodly hour." Sitting down in front of him gently, she tucked her legs neatly together to the side, crossing her ankles. Her hands rested obediently in her lap. "I hope you get enough sleep tonight; we wouldn't want a sleepy CMO on duty, would we?" Her frail smile brightened Bones up. It might be a weak, tired smile, but the good graces of a woman had never been given to him in years, let alone a smile. He'd take anything he could get at this point, and she was definitely making a good start. The way her eyes crinkled up in the corners, he was thrilled to know it was genuine, but he couldn't avoid the feeling growing in his stomach. Something was going to start because of her. It would be painful, long, and dramatic. Like sex with his ex. That was quickly shaken from his mind, and he began to study the woman, taking in her medical record with a renewed vigor.

'Get this done, get the hell out, never see her again. That's all I gotta do. Come on, Leonard.'

Her smile began to fade as he studied her coldly, rushing through the process in order to leave sooner. His attachment to his work seemed a bit unhealthy to her, but she couldn't complain. He was good at his job, or else he wouldn't be on the Enterprise. She just wished he'd be a bit nicer to her. 'I'll have to work on that, getting him to be friendly around me.'

And so the game is on.


	2. Chapter 2

The artificial sunlight peeked into his room, forcing him to retreat deeper into his blankets. Damn that sun; he saw way too much of it, and he wasn't even on Earth. Squinting his eyes closed tighter, he tried to force himself back to sleep, but it wasn't working as well as he'd hoped. It just ended up messing up his hair and scratching his eyes on the pillow case. He knew he had more time to sleep; his alarm would go off when his shift was a couple of minutes off. He always jumped up and ran off to work; he thought he ran better that way throughout the day.

Ugh, but waking up so early, especially after working well past his quitting time. With all of these crewmates still recovering, he couldn't afford to leave them alone, and Nurse Chapel couldn't handle it in what state she was in. Unfortunately, Chapel was the one who went to meet with the injured crewmates, being injured in the damn process. Her arm was broken, slung up in an unsophisticated fashion, her face and arms bruised purple and blue, some almost turning green. This capable woman was out of action, and now Leonard had to pick up all the damn slack.

Dammit.

"Fine, dammit." Throwing off his covers, stumbling out of bed, He flung open his drawers, reaching for his blue shirt. "Fine! I'll go to that damn work!" Showers, moving through the halls, moving up to the medical bay, moving into his office, moving into his seat, and putting his damn feet up. There was no way he was going to start this day without his coffee.

"Chapel? Where are you?" Listening patiently, he heard the slight rustle of her dress, the shuffle of her feet.

She peeked into his office, her sling slightly visible. "Here, Doctor." He cocked an eyebrow.

'She didn't have to come all the way here. Can't she just shout across the room?' "Well," He leaned back in his chair, sipping his coffee. "How is everyone recovering?" Giving a tough smile, she stood full in the doorway.

"Most are improving, but some men passed quietly in their sleep." Leonard shot up straight, sloshing his coffee across the table, and locked his wide eyes with Chapel's tired ones. Leonard knew exactly who was close to passing last night; they included several security officers, and the woman who'd had her eye on Bones. The one he thought he could have an honest chance with, or at least some crazy good sex. As 'amazing morals' as he was thought to have, any man would get lonely and horny after spending three years in space after a rough divorce with that bitch of a southern belle. "Ensign Simmons was included in the group." Damn it. "I'm sorry, sir."

'Well, there goes what little sex I thought I was going to get.' "My god, Chapel. Why didn't you tell me they were in critical condition?" Confusion spread across her face as she studied him.

"But they were in critical before you left….."

'Oh yeah…. Dammit!' He snorted, wishing he could cover up his stupid question. Crashing doors saved Bones this time, a woman in red trying to half drag a man into the room and on to a bed.

"Sir! Miss! Please, help me! Lieutenant Morrison…" The two rushed over to the engineering duo, Chapel using the tricorder to check his heart rate as McCoy began studying the unconscious man's broken leg, his tibia and fibula breaking through the skin, twisting his leg 45 degrees in the wrong direction. "He broke it jumping down from the upper platform to the floor."

"Damn it." Chapel had already reached for the tray, bringing it over to the doctor. "Hardly had my coffee and my day's already crap."

"I think that's okay now…." Holding on to Lieutenant Morrison's hand, the woman from engineering looked up to the doctor who was finishing sedating Morrison. "Thank you, Doctor McCoy." Bones looked at her. "Thank you so much."

Oh dear god. It was her. Bones could feel his body heating up as he looked at her freckles under her dark eyes. How did this woman show up again? Of all the hundreds of people, she had to be the one to take this stupid redshirt up to med bay. "It's my job." He looked at her, studying how her eyelashes dusted her cheeks and how her tired smile brought a crinkle to her eyes. She was cute to say the least, and totally worth the lonely hours at night just to stare at her and never have her dump him. "So, Ensign." He leaned back on the bed next to Morrison's, trying to look passive to the woman, making it look like nothing to the head nurse and other medical staff members. "Do you have a name in engineering, or does Mr. Scott just yell 'you'?" She smiled, looking at Morrison, then to Bones. 'dammit. Does she have something going on with lieutenant Morrison? I can't catch a break, can I?'

"It's Claire. Claire Gossman." Now he knew what to name his hand at night. "Morrison is a good friend of mine; thanks for fixing him up." Did she really have to bring him up again?

"Kirk to medical bay. Bones, you there?" The doctor made his way to the comm, clicking the button.

"Dammit, Jim. What is it now?" Silence. Uhura was heard shouting in the background.

"We just spotted a Klingon warbird and it is locking its weapons on us. Prepare to take in crew members."

"My god, Jim. Can't you keep out of a fight for more than a week?"

"Kirk out." Chapel was already on the move before Bones could say anything.

The captain sighed, slouching in his seat at the table. "I just don't get it." Tapping the table, he watched the others try to work out an answer for him. "How did this happen? How do all 134 new crewmates take ill, and start dropping like flies?"

"Perhaps, Captain, they simply did not receive the proper vaccinations before being accepted into the Enterprise?" The doctor glared at Spock, not willing to believe that he could have caused the deaths of over 100 people.

"Dammit, Spock! You think I didn't check that they all received the proper shots? Of course they were all in top condition when we received them!" Spock cocked his eyebrow, somehow finding McCoy's outburst illogical. Kirk was a little taken aback as well.

"Bones, you know it has to be something with only the new crewmates. That's the only thing that makes sense!" Siding with the commander's logic, Kirk had forced the irritated medical officer to agree. The captain tried to soothe McCoy's ego. "Maybe it wasn't their vaccinations, but maybe they were given something else? Maybe they were infected with something before they came on the ship? What have you found out about the sickness, Bones?" Finally, something Bones could work with!

"All I know is that whatever this disease is- for it to present itself so late- it has a latency period of a week, even up to a month. Once it shows, it induces a fever that usually causes the host to faint. After that, there's the shaking, the sweating, their systems deteriorate, begin to shut down, starting with the musculature, then the nervous system. The host is basically in a coma when their respiration system shuts down-literally freezes- and they suffocate. There's nothing I can do once it's at that point." He thought about all the people that he'd seen move through his medical bay, all of them with the same symptoms, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Thankfully, there weren't any too familiar faces in the group, although, he had seen some of the original crew members fall ill already. "Jim, I think someone is trying to kill us all off. There are more than just the new crewmates getting ill now." This time, the Vulcan agreed.

"Captain, his logic is sound. This wide-spread infection from a familiar planet could suggest no other solution." Worried eyes locked with the doctor and commander.

"So this is…. This is going to kill us?" No one wanted to answer that, so the duty was thrown on McCoy.

"If we can't find a cure, or even find out what the hell this is, then… it will." Not the answer Kirk was hoping for.

"How many have died already?"

"157; 115 of those being from the new crew members." The captain hid his face in his hands, shaking his head. He was silent for a moment, his subordinates following suit.

"I don't…." Jim was speechless, only able to continue shaking his head. "I don't… want to deal with this right now. In front of the rest of the crew." This prompted the other two to look out at the mess hall and make eye contact with the surrounding six tables, who quickly looked down and away, embarrassed to have been caught listening in on such an important conversation.

"It seems," The Vulcan eased the other two out of the conversation, "that another time and place will be required to complete this discussion. Perhaps if it was made official, it would deter lookers-on?" The young captain nodded slowly, keeping his face in his hands.

"Yeah," he responded absently. "Yeah, Spock. That sounds good." He sat up, pulling his hands away from his face to take a deep sigh. "We'll meet today, 5:00. You two will be off of your shifts by then. Uhura can take down notes then too." An eyebrow rose on Spock's forehead, immediately irritating the doctor. Whenever one of those damned pointy eyebrows jumped, the green-blooded hobgoblin had a monkey-wrench to throw into the works.

"Captain, may I interject?" McCoy sat back, annoyed that they couldn't even agree on a time to meet. Kirk waved him on, a bit of a dead look in his eye. Not picking up on the human emotions, Spock continued as if he never really cared what the captain's answer was. "Mr. Scott will not be able to make a meeting at that time. Who should be sent in his stead? Or should I suggest the meeting be moved to next week, when our schedules fall into a more favorable pattern?"

"We'll just grab the next in command." He froze a moment, hoping he wouldn't have to correct himself. "She is doing alright, isn't she?" Why would the captain ask something like that? Engineering was affected just like everywhere else. Unless…

"Oh, son of a bitch…." The doctor just wanted a drink. The second-in-command in engineering couldn't really be Claire, could it? "Would that happen to be ensign Gossman?"

"Not ensign, Doctor," the Vulcan corrected. "Rather, lieutenant Gossman."

'She got a promotion since I'd last seen her? What the hell?"

"The second-in-command before her died, so she got moved up." The captain felt the need to further explain, which further annoyed McCoy.


End file.
